Tulum, Mexico

4 December 2008

The next port of call was Cozumel, Mexico. This is a well known tourist trap with beaches. We again decided it would be time better spent to visit a major Mayan Ruin called Tulum than the tourists’ sights of Cozumel. This was a large Mayan City and also a major trading location with its own port. Today that port area is a truly spectacular beach. For those interested in this culture and history of the structures shown in the pictures, you can visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulum

I need to mention our guide Hernan, who was of Mayan descent. He was very funny and provided a great deal of information, not only about the ruins but the lives of those who chose to live, as much as possible, in the Mayan tradition.

Belize

3 December 2008

Our second port of call was Belize City. This is an anchorage port, since there are no adequate docks available. Offshore is the second longest barrier reef in the world. It runs over 175 miles from Mexico to Honduras. Belize gained its independence from Great Britain in the mid-1980’s and is a great source of pride among the citizenry.

This would be our first opportunity, ever, to visit a Mayan Ruin. The site called Altun Ha covers over 5 square miles with the central one square mile holding the ruins of 500 structures. Archeological investigations show that Altun Ha was occupied by 200 BC with the majority of the structures built between 200 and 900 AD. This culture was very well developed with an advanced understanding of mathematics and astronomy. At its peak, this site was thought to have a population of 10,000 people.

It was very impressive to learn about the culture from our guide and see the symbols of this long past culture survive to this day. While the ancient culture is gone, there are many people who can trace their heritage back to the ancient Mayans.

They produced a calendar that was significantly more accurate than any European calendar of the time. Currently, due to the accuracy of other predictions made by the Mayan’s, much has been made of their prediction that time ends in September 2012.

To learn more about this site and an explanation of what the attached pictures show, you can visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altun_Ha

After the visit, we had lunch at a small local restaurant along the Old Belize River. While we were enjoying our meal prepared in large ancient looking pots and served in a setting that could have been several centuries ago, we were joined at our table by a local taxi driver who regularly stops here for lunch, I assume while ferrying tourist around. The national language of the Belizeans is English, but they generally speak a local dialect when not in the presence of tourists. This gentleman spoke English like a real northern Yankee. It turns out that he was born and raised in Brooklyn and was an engineer by trade. While visiting Belize on vacation he fell in love with the place and lives most of the time in Belize and travels regularly back to Brooklyn to visit his children. So it still seems to be a small world, where you can meet a Belizean taxi driver from Brooklyn, who has travelled to many of the same places we have, and still find each other in the smallest and dare I say remote of places.

After lunch, we boarded our launch for a 25 mile tour on the Old River. This was mostly a nature tour with hopes of seeing some of the wild creatures that inhabit the area. Our guide, Simone, continued to entertain and educate us on the several hour journey with natural and historic facts about her country and its good and bad sides and even about some of her hopes for this fledgling new country. She even sang the national anthem. I had to remind myself that she was a first generation patriot, who witnessed the struggles for independence.

Roatan, Honduras

1 and 2 December 2008

We spent our full day at sea exploring the many choices for dining and entertainment. The most enjoyable part of the day was just watching the ocean go by from our balconies. In the distance Cuba could be seen as we headed south toward the island of Roatan in Honduras. We discovered the VIP breakfast and lunch restaurant and would enjoy a number of meals in this cozy space.

We arrived at 0800 at the dock in Roatan under cloudy and threatening skies. We had signed up for the tour of a local nature park which included some local plants and animals. The highlights of these were the birds and monkeys that roamed the premises. The monkeys seemed particularly fond of me, not sure why? To reach the animal areas it was necessary to cross a suspension bridge, which made some of the folks in the group a bit concerned, but all went well. Except for the occasionally rain downpour in was a pleasant visit.

After this we joined the group who had elected to spend the day at a locally famous beach called Tabyana. Due to the continued regular periods of rain, this was less than a total success. We decided to head back to the ship on one of the first buses.

We did not see a great deal of the local area, but what was observed supported the view that the area is very poor and living conditions difficult. Never the less, we found the people friendly and outgoing.

Onboard, we took in the sunset at departure. That evening we were invited to dinner with the Captain. Lastly, when we returned to our cabin, we found a rabbit made out of towels on the bed. We were to learn this was a specialty of our stewards and had a different one waiting for us each evening.

Our Cruise-day one

30 November 2008

Our Caribbean Cruise aboard the Norwegian Pearl began on a rainy and windy day in Miami. Despite getting soaked unloading our luggage, we were excited about making this cruise. Our friend, George Chesney, works for the cruise line and was able to get us a last minute deal on the trip and he was also kind enough to put us on the VIP list. We were going to find out a lot more about this as time went on. We booked a balcony room, as we love to watch the ocean and ship traffic. The room was very nice and located on the port side on deck ten. Most of our time that first afternoon was spent orienting ourselves and looking the ship over. We also enjoyed some complementary wine and fruit.

As the ship got underway around 5PM, we said goodbye to Miami from our balcony. We were off! What we noticed soon after departure was the mail that started arriving at the stateroom, inviting us to various functions and informing us of activities we might be interested in. Just before going out to dinner and a show, we received a letter indicating that the front desk would like to talk to us about our room. No idea what that was about. Since the person on the letter was busy, we headed to dinner and the welcome aboard show in the Stardust Theater.

We decided to check in with the front desk one more time before retiring to our room to watch the world go by. After a bit of a wait, a young officer came out and let us know that the Hotel Director would like to offer us an upgrade for our room to one of the owner’s suites. She indicated that we should go look at the room before deciding (with a big smile). So off we went to look at what turns out to be one of the best suites on the ship. Needless to say, we were packed and out of our very nice balcony room quickly. The new suite is really in a wonderful location on the starboard side of the ship all the way forward on deck nine, lots of space with bow and side balconies. This was a great place to be.

We would have a full day at sea to explore the ship and enjoy life onboard before our first port of call.